Buddhism and Christianity

I recently found out that there are a lot of similarities between the teachings of Buddhism and Christianity, especially in the area of what is known as Sila/Pali('morality', 'behavioral discipline', or ethics in general).

Here is the teaching of Buddhism:

1. I undertake to abstain from taking life (both human and nonhuman).
2. I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given (stealing).
3. I undertake to abstain from all sexual activity.
4. I undertake to abstain from telling lies.
5. I undertake to abstain from using intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.
6. I undertake to abstain from eating at the wrong time (the right time is after sunrise, before noon).
7. I undertake to abstain from singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands (decorative accessories).
8. I undertake to abstain from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping.

As a Seventh-day Adventist, I can say amen to the first seven precepts of the Buddhist good moral behaving life. I can honestly say this is like reciting my baptismal vows. Well, except for not eating after noon. Hmm...

The interesting thing is the number 8. Abstain from luxurious bed? My girlfriend think that this is just a way of saying not to live a luxurious life. But, maybe there is more to it. Look what I found browsing CNN website:

Is a good night's sleep worth $50,000? <---Click for link

They are talking about a bed that cost a whooping $50,000!! My condo didn't cost that much before!! So, I don't know. It says in the article that mattresses are big booming business right now. Maybe there is something more to the 8th precepts. People are so depressed with their life and they think that if we could just make the bed more comfy, softer, and bigger then they could sleep better. Not to mention that every few commercials on TV you would find an ads for sleeping pill. You all well know that it's not the bed it's the 'guling' (long hugging pillow:)). So, I think I can say amen to #8. Amen

Just to compare it with the Jewish/Christian Ten Commandments:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”